Donations, bids don't mix, school official says

August 15, 2007|By Tim Kane, Special to the Tribune

A newcomer to the Carpentersville-based District 300 school board proposed this week that the district stop doing business with individuals or companies who contribute $5,000 or more to school-related political campaigns.

Elected in spring, John Ryan said Monday that restoring integrity prompted his proposal. The measure would disqualify those who make large contributions to campaigns or candidates and keep construction companies from paying for advertisements and publicity that support tax-increase referendums for building schools, he said.

"We are saying there's a choice," Ryan said. "Be a political contributor. Or do business with the school district."

Board members Mary Warren and Karen Roeckner were upset by the proposal, which is scheduled for a vote Aug. 27.

"There's no pay-to-play here," said Warren, a middle school teacher in another district who was elected in 2001. "We take the lowest bidder. We've always been aboveboard."

"This penalizes contractors and vendors that want to support our school district," said Roeckner, a former Carpentersville village trustee elected to the board in 2005.

Earlier in the meeting, board President Joe Stevens asked staff members to prepare a report on why the district gets so few bidders for work and services.

"I can recall half-million-dollar contracts that people walk away from," Stevens said. "We'll contact five, and only one submits a bid. This has happened repeatedly over the past year."

Stevens said Tuesday it was perhaps "poor timing" that both issues were discussed on the same night.

"If I thought that was the case, I'd be all over it," Stevens said. "We're just not getting enough people to submit bids."